I recently received a couple of emails from readers of Dcomedieta, who linked me to products that promised to eliminate toxins for weight loss, improve the immune system through a detox action, reduce digestive and hormonal problems.

Unfortunately, the products were supplements that, apart from the site that marketed them, had no reliable source as to their effectiveness.

And for that matter it was not even possible to understand what ingredients they had, apart from a very smoky description.

But first of all we have to ask ourselves the following question: is it possible to eliminate toxins to lose weight?

HOW TOXINS BIND TO INFLAMMATION AND OVERWEIGHT

In the United States there is a lot of talk about toxins as something we can easily get rid of through expensive protocols that rely on herbal supplements in various forms. And it has been circulating on the internet for some time now that these toxins are responsible for being overweight, among other things. Let’s try to understand first of all what toxins are.

WHAT ARE TOXINS

Toxins are poisonous microorganisms that have biological origin, being produced by microbes (bacteria in general), animals and plants. But they are an immense class, which we generally divide into two categories: endotoxins and exotoxins.

Now, the fact that toxins are everywhere already makes it unlikely the possibility of living without toxins, that is, in a totally aseptic world.

For example, all plants produce toxins to defend themselves from external pathogens but also from aggressors, such as insects, animals, etc.

To some of these, not totally harmless to humans, we give the name of anti-nutrients , because it has been seen that in the intestine they inhibit the absorption of vitamins and mineral salts for a certain percentage, cause digestive stress phenomena and so on. saying.

But we also know it is important to eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, which have various types of these substances.

At the same time, if we consider the danger of toxin, that is, of blood poisoning, we will find it associated with serious diseases such as cholera, typhus, salmonellosis, tetanus, botulinum.

Diseases on which we are certainly not worried if they can make us fat, since our first problem will be surviving them first.

TOXINS AS OBESOGENIC SUBSTANCES

If anything, what we must and can worry about is precisely to reduce the so-called ” obesogenic ” toxins, ie those toxins that accumulate in body fat and at the same time produce overweight, some of which have actually been recognized by scientists.

Some of these are called Pops , from the acronym of Persistent Organic Polluttants, or persistent pollutants of organic origin, including dioxins and pesticides.

These substances have been shown to cause overweight but also other health problems: they cause hormonal disorders, glutathione deficiency and mitochondrial dysfunction, so they are also linked to metabolic diseases.